Louvre and hanger therefor



Jan. 23, 1962 R. A. D. SCHWARTZ l t e m Qw S m m 5 2 5 2 Q m 5 3 D May 21, 1958 Jan. 23, 1962 R. A. D. SCHWARTZ 7,

LOUVRE AND HANGER THEREFOR Filed May 21, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 34 06527" fi. D. 5cHwn/z7'z Jan. 23, 1962 R. A. D. SCHWARTZ 3,017,973

LOUVRE AND HANGER THEREFOR Filed May 21, 1958 V 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. IQOBERT 10. D. ficuwnzrz trite tats ice 3,617,973 LGUVRE AND HANGER THEREFQR Robert A. D. Schwartz, 1081 Annerley Road,

Piedmont, Calif. Filed May 21, 195 3, Ser. No. 736,905 6 @iainis. (Cl. 185 -88) This invention relates to a louvre intended for use in ventilate-d ceiling construction and as a diffuser for overhead lighting systems such as fluorescent lamps. The invention also relates to a hanger for such louvres.

In the art of combined or integrated ceiling and lighting construction, a widely used type of ceiling is an open cellular or louvre type which is capable of performing the double function of a light diffuser and an air permeable ceiling to allow ventilation. One widely used form of louvre consists of intermeshed strips of metal, preferably an aluminum alloy, which form a grid capable of performing the light diffusing and air circulating functions mentioned above.

In the construction of louvres of this character, a difficulty is encountered in constructing the units or panels so that they will be sturdy yet can be manufactured economically.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved louvre of the character and for the purpose described.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a louvre construction of the general character described which is sturdy and strong in its construction, yet is simple to fabricate and assemble.

In connection with louvres of the character described, another difficulty encountered is the problem of hanging them. Louvres of this character are made in units or panels which must be suspended side by side to form a complete ceiling, and the suspension means must be accurate and dependable. Yet it is desirable to provide a suspension means which can be applied easily and quickly and which will permit detachment of any individual panel with ease and without disturbing other panels.

It is, therefore, a further object of the invention to provide improved hanger construction for louvre type ceilings.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple hanger means which can be quickly and easily applied to hold ceiling panels of the character described in side by side relation; which provides a dependable suspension when applied; and which permits easy removal of any individual panel without disturbing other panels.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the ensuing description and the appended claims.

One form of the invention is shown by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary, perspective View of a louvre type ceiling constructed in accordance with the invention and including a hanger or suspension means in accordance with the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a side view of the hanger of the invention.

FIGURE 3 is a view of the hanger of FIGURE 1 as seen from the right thereof.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken through a louvre ceiling showing how the hanger of the invention is employed to connect and mount adjacent louvre panels.

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to that of FIGURE 4, and it illustrates how the hanger can be manipulated to release an individual panel without disturbing other panels.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary, top plan view of a single louvre panel or unit constructed in accordance with the invention.

FIGURES 7 and 8 are fragmentary corner views taken along the lines 7-7 and 8-8, respectively, of FIGURE 6, but on a larger scale than that of FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary top plan view as seen along the line 99 of FIGURE 8.

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary view of one of the binding strips of the invention, showing how the same is connected to the slats of the louvre.

FIGURE 11 is a fragmentary plan view of one of the binding strips before it is connected to a panel.

FIGURE 12 is a plan view of one of the metal slats of the grid or louvre.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIGURES l and 6, in FIGURE 1 there is shown a portion of a louvre type ceiling constructed in accordance with the invention. The ceiling is generally designated by the reference numeral 10. There is also shown in FIGURE 1, corner portions of four units or panels, each of which is generally designated by the reference numeral 10a. One panel 10a is shown in top plan view of FIGURE 6. It will be understood that suitable illuminating means such as fluorescent tubes (not shown) and suitable ventilating means (not shown) may be mounted above the ceiling it).

As will be seen, each of the panels is made up of two sets of parallel slats 11, one set being transverse to the other and the two sets being intermeshed to form a uniform cellular grid which is indicated as 12. Referring now to FIGURE 12, one of the slats 11 is there shown. It is preferably of metal construction, e.g., aluminum; and it is slotted at uniform intervals at 13; and it is formed at each end with a tab or extension 14 which is intended to be bent along a line 15 for the purpose described hereinafter. Two sets of slats 11 are meshed together, as indicated, to form a grid 12.

Referring now to FIGURE 11, one of four edging or binder strips is there shown and is generally designated by the reference numeral 16. Four such strips are employed in accordance with the invention, a will appear hereinafter, although for different shapes (e.g., triangular, pentagonal, hexagonal) a corresponding number of binder strips 16 will be employed. Each binder strip 16 is slotted transversely and at uniform intervals along its lower edge at 17 to form uniform tabs 13, as illustrated. However, the end tabs 18a are of smaller width than the inner tabs 13. The tabs and that are intended to be bent along a line 19 for the purpose described hereinafter. A line is also indicated at 2% along which he upper margin of the binder strip 16 is intended to be bent, thus defining an upper edge portion of flange 25, the purpose of which will appear hereinafter. The flange portion 25' is slotted at intervals as shown at 26 for a purpose explained hereinafter, and the SlOts are so formed that, when two strips 16 are back to back with their ends flush, the slots will be arranged in adjacent pairs. At each end the binder strip 16 is formed with an extension or tab 27 and one of the tabs 27 (that shown at the right in FIGURE 11) is formed with a further extension 23. The extensions or tabs 27 and 28 serve a purpose which is explained hereinafter.

Referring now to FIGURE 10, one end of one of the slats ll of a grid 12 is there shown. As will be seen, its tab portion 14 is bent at a right angle to the main body of the slat, and it is clamped by an adjacent uptuined tab portion 18 of the binder strip 16. It will be apparent that this operation is repeated for each end of each slat 11 about all four sides of the grid 12, and that by this means the four binder strips 16 will securely hold,

ind and encompass the grid 12 and will form a sturdy, attractive panel 19a. The flange portion 25 of each of the binder strips 16 is bent over at a right angle to lie in a horizontal plane as shown in FIGURE 10. As will be seen by reference to FIGURE 6, this feature provides an upper horizontal flange extending completely around the panel lila.

The tab extension 28 of each binder strip 16 is bent at a right angle as illustrated in FIGURE 10. Referring to FIGURES 7, 8 and 9, it will be apparent that it is the function of the four, bent tab extensions 28 to overlap the tabs 27 at the opposite ends of the binder strips 16. As will be seen from FIGURE 8, the overlapping tabs 27. 28 are spot welded at 29.

By this means it will be apparent that a very sturdy panel Ida is provided. A reinforcing rim is formed by the binder strips 16. The operations required to manufacture and assemble the panel are greatly simplified. The only elements required to be manufactured are the slats 12 and four binder strips 26, each of which can be readily manufactured by punching and other conventional and metal forming operations. These elements (that is, the slats 12 and the binder strips 16) can be assembled and united very readily by simple bending and pressing operations and by a minimum of spot welding. Therefore, the objectives of a sturdy, durable unit or panel for louvre type ceilings is achieved together with the object of economical manufacture and assembly.

As an added feature two edging strips 34 are also provided which, as best shown in FIGURE 6, are located along adjacent sides of the unit and are secured by any suitable means such as spot welding. By providing two edging strips, the assembled ceiling is given a more uni form appearance.

Referring now to FIGURES 1 to and more particularly to FIGURES 2 and 3, a hanger is there shown which is generally designated by the reference numeral 35. It comprises two leg portions 36 which taper downwardly and outwardly from a top connecting portion 37. The latter is formed with a hole 38 in registry with the threaded opening of a nut 39 which is welded to the connecting portion 37. At its lower end each of the legs 36 is turned in horizontally to provide a supporting flange 4t) and the inner end of each flange 40 is turned up to provide a tip 41 and also to provide a tip 42, both of which have important functions as explained hereinafter.

As will be seen from an inspection of FIGURES 1, 4 and 5 a long bolt or threaded shaft 43 is threaded to the nut 39, the upper end of such bolt or rod being secured to a permanent ceiling, rafters, or other suitable structure. As will also be apparent from an inspection of FIGURES 1, 4 and 5, it is the function of the tips 41 to extend through the aligned slots 26 formed in the flanges 25 of panels a. The weight of the panels will draw the leg portions 36 together so that two adjacent panels 10a will be held in abutting relation.

It will be apparent that, by means of hangers such as shown at 35 in FIGURES 1 to 5, and by reason of the construction of the panels 10a and the provision of slotted flanges 25 therein, the panels 10a can be speedily mounted and adjusted to form a continuous, even louvre type ceilmg.

It is a further important advantage of the hangers 35, that they permit easy detachment of an individual panel without disturbing any other panel. Thus, as shown in FIGURE 5, the panel selected for removal is tilted up to clear the tip 41 of a hanger, then a finger is applied to the tip 42 to pull the respective leg 36 aside and the detached panel is allowed to drop. This is repeated until the selected panel is detached from all its hangers. Meanwhile the same hangers continue to support all the adjacent panels.

Another important advantage of the construction of my invention is that it provides'a sturdy panel without projecting ends, yet any number of the panels can be assembled side by side and will present the appearance to an observer below of an unbroken, continuous louvre.

Thus, the panels will be arranged so that each side with an edging strip 34 will abut a side of an adjacent panel which does not have an edging strip. Each edging strip, since it is a single thickness and is flush with the lower surface of the panels, will appear to be another slat. Heretofore an unbroken, continuous eifect of this character has been achieved by leaving certain edges of the panels unattached, i.e., with the slat ends loose. Such construction is undesirable because loose slat ends are easily bent. On the other hand, previous constructions which have secured the slat ends have been of a nature to expose double thicknesses of metal which destroy the appearance of uniformity. With my design, however, the slat ends are secured by the strips 16 which are not visible from below (except by close inspection), and the edging strips 34 impart a uniform appearance.

It will, therefore, be apparent that a novel and very advantageous type of louvre construction has been provided and that a very advantageous type of hanger construction has also been provided.

I claim:

1. A louvre of the character described comprising a first set of parallel slats and a second set of parallel slats arranged in transverse, meshing relation to the first set to form a grid with projecting slat ends, and a rim for said grid comprising a strip for each side of the grid formed with slots to form transverse tabs, said projecting slat ends being bent transversely and said tabs being bent back upon the respective strips to form securing tabs, said transversely bent slat ends and said tabs being interlocked.

2. A louvre of the character described comprising a first set of parallel slats and a second set of parallel slats arranged in transverse, meshing relation to the first set to form a grid with projecting slat ends, and a rim for said grid comprising a strip for each side of the grid formed with slots to form transverse tabs, said projecting slat ends being bent transversely and said tabs being bent back upon the respective strips to form securing tabs, said transversely bent slat ends and said tabs being interlocked, each said strip being also bent over along one edge to provide a horizontal flange overlying the slats.

3. A louvre of the character described comprising a first set of parallel slats and a second set of parallel slats arranged in transverse, meshing relation to the first set to form a grid with projecting slat ends, and a rim for said grid comprising a strip for each side of the grid formed with slots to form transverse tabs, said projecting slat ends being bent transversely and said tabs being bent back upon the respective strips to form securing tabs, said transversely bent slat ends and said tabs being interlocked, each said strip being also bent over along one edge to provide a horizontal flange overlying the slats, said flanges being slotted to receive hanger members.

4. A louvre panel of the character described comprising a first set of parallel metal slats and a second set of parallel metal slats arranged transversely to and meshing with the first set to form a grid, each said slat having a projecting tab at each end; said louvre panel also comprising a rim in the form of a strip for each side of the panel, each said strip being slotted transversely to provide a multiplicity of downwardly projecting tabs distributed along the length of the strip; said grid and said strips being assembled with the slat tabs bent transversely, the strip tabs bent back upon the respective strips and the slat tabs interlocked with the strip tabs.

5. A louvre panel of the character described comprising a first set of parallel metal slats and a second set of parallel metal slats arranged transversely to and meshing with the first set to form a grid, each said slat having a projecting tab at each end; said louvre panel also comprising a rim in the form of a separate strip for each side having projecting end tabs and being slotted transversely to provide a multiplicity of downwardly projecting tabs distributed along the length of the strip; said grid and said strips being assembled with the slat tabs bent transversely, the strip tabs bent back upon the respective strips and the slat tabs interlocked with the strip tabs, the adjacent end tabs of the strips being in abutting, overlapping relation and secured together.

6. A louvre panel of the character described comprising a first set of parallel metal slats and a second set of parallel metal slats arranged transversely to and meshing with the first set to form a grid, each said slat having a projecting tab at each end; said louvre unit also comprising a rim in the form of a separate strip for each side, each strip having a short end tab at one end and a long end tab at the other end, each said strip being slotted transversely to provide a multiplicity of downwardly projecting tabs distributed along the length of the strip; said grid and said strips being assembled with the Slat tabs bent transversely and the strip tabs bent back upon the respective strips to form securing tabs, said transversely bent slat ends and said strip tabs being interlocked and with the long end tabs of the strips bent to overlap the short end tabs of adjacent strips, such overlapping tabs being secured together.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES Architecture Record, October 1948, page 175. 

